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Death Battle
Death Battle (stylized as DEATH BATTLE!) is a web-based video show hosted by "Wizard" (Ben Singer) and "Boomstick" (Chad James) presented by ScrewAttack. The show pits two or more fictional characters from different medias such as movies, comics, manga, television programs, literature and video games, and create a simulated battle to the death. The characters are analyzed with their respective powers, strengths, and weaknesses, to determine a winner. Format overview The show's central concept consists of taking two or more fictional characters and pitting them against each other in a simulated "death battle". Before the start of the battle, the hosts analyze the character's strengths, weaknesses, physicality (weight, height, age, intellect), and weapons. This is done by extensive research of each of the characters, taking notes from various known experts, collaboration from various conventions (e.g. Comic-Con), official websites, and franchise encyclopedias. People are sometimes interviewed in these conventions to know their opinions about the battle. All other traits try to be represented with accuracy based on the character's canon universes. If the character has multiple versions, the most well-known version will be the one chosen. After studying the characters, the battle commences shown in a form of a virtual battle in either 2D sprites or 3D CGI. Many of the characters involved are voiced by many YouTube personalities like MasakoX and ItsJustSomeRandomGuy (who played Goku and Superman respectively) and later anime dub voice actors like Christopher Sabat and Chuck Huber. After a conclusion is made to who is the winner, the hosts explain the reasoning he or she is triumphant over their opponent. In the show "Wizard" is portrayed as highly knowledgeable about all fight subjects, and claims to have a (malfunctoning) cybernetic arm. "Boomstick" is portrayed as a gun-loving, misogynistic, foul-mouthed redneck. Although, he has shown proficiency in some topics, including giving a surprisingly deep explanation as to why Superman is able to masquerade as Clark Kent using only a pair of eyeglasses. Characters in the virtual simulation kill their opponents, even though many of them are usually portrayed as against killing (such as Batman or the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles). These are made as a "What If" scenario for entertainment purposes, and does not go against the accuracy of the analysis of the respective winner. In the case of Justin Bieber versus Rebecca Black however, the battle was satirically made for comedic purpose. The show has been animated by a number of sprite animators for the 2d fights, while the 3d fights have always been animated by Torrian Crawford (barring Link vs. Cloud and the first Goku vs. Superman) ever since "Terminator vs Robocop." A spin-off, The Desk of Death Battle, began airing in January 2015, in which the show's intern Jocelyn (voiced by Lisa Foiles) discusses interesting facts about characters that were found during research but not mentioned during their respective episodes. A new show named "Death Battle Cast," began in November 2016, which is a podcast featuring the staff of the show. One of the sprite animators, Mali De'lisser, began producing the series One Minute Melee, in August 2014. This series features animated battles similar to that of the main series, but all fights conclude in 60 seconds with no research done beforehand. During the second season of the show, Mali and a couple other sprite animators who worked on Death Battle quit producing the show on Screwattack and animating for Death Battle and moved One Minute Melee to Hyun's Dojo. In Season 3 of Death Battle, Screwattack started a new show named DBX, which like One Minute Melee, features fights with no research to determine the winner. The main differences being that there's no time limit and like Death Battle, the fight will be guaranteed to end in a death. Rules # Combatants possess no non-canon knowledge of each other. # To ensure a fair fight, character personality restraints from killing are ignored. # All other character traits & tactics are not ignored & largely attempted to be represented faithfully. # Research source prerequisites are generally determined equally unless specified. # If there is a trainable combatant then it will enter the fight in a non player influence. Episodes Season 1 Season 2 Season 3 Season 4 Special episodes Reception Death Battle was ranked sixth on WatchMojo's "Top 10 Youtube Series You Need to Watch." Writer Sean Harris claims, "These are the fights we'd all like to see, with a heap of hilarious pre-match analysis thrown in for our viewing pleasure. On Death Battle, the tale of the tape is as funny as the fights are brutal." Prior to this, WatchMojo also made a Top 10 Death Battle episodes list, in which they placed "Goku vs. Superman" as their #1 choice. Inquisitr also made a top ten Death Battle list and claimed "ScrewAttack Death Battles have been some of the most anticipated videos in years." Acclaimed comic book writer Tom Taylor watched "Iron Man vs. Lex Luthor" and said, "As the writer of Superior Iron Man, & having written Lex Luthor, I totally approve of this." Insomniac Games, the developers behind Ratchet & Clank, also voiced their approval towards the "Ratchet & Clank vs. Jak & Daxter" episode. See also * Animal Face-Off * Celebrity Deathmatch * Deadliest Warrior * Monster Bug Wars * Epic Rap Battles of History References External links * Death Battle on ScrewAttack.com * Death Battle Youtube playlist * Death Battle on Revision3 * Category:2010 web series debuts Category:Documentary internet series Category:American web series Category:YouTube series Category:Death games in fiction Category:Crossover fiction